How the White House Spurs Welfare Reform

Publication Date: May 1989

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Stuart M. Butler

Research Area: Social conditions

Keywords: Welfare

Type: Report

Abstract:

Rather than provide a safety line to lead people out of poverty, the American welfare “system” has become unresponsive to the needs of those to whom it is targeted. A centralized welfare system imposes a bureaucratic straitjacket on the states and stifles the experimentation so necessary to discovering new approaches to aiding the least advantaged. State governments should be given far more authority to shape their own welfare policies. Federal restrictions should be eased and states should be encouraged to shift funds from antiquated programs into new anti-poverty efforts designed at the state and local level.